MADURAI: The best tamers and bull owners of every jallikattu event will be awarded a car, announced Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration P Moorthy on Thursday. While the bull owners will be awarded on behalf of Chief Minister MK Stalin, the best tamers will be felicitated on behalf of Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare Udhayanidhi Stalin.
Minister Moorthy was addressing reporters, when he reiterated that the jallikattu events at Avaniyapuram, Palamedu, and Alanganallur are scheduled to be held on January 15, 16, and 17 respectively. Online registration for both tamers and bulls is now closed.
The total number of registered bulls and tamers stands at 12,176 each. Of this, 2,400 bulls and 1,318 tamers have registered for Avaniyapuram jallikattu; 6,000 bulls and 1,784 tamers for Alanganallur.
District administration officials are currently scrutinising applications, Moorthy said, and added,
“The newly constructed jallikattu arena will be inaugurated by CM Stalin by the end of this month. Following the inauguration, the district administration is planning to conduct five days of jallikattu events with grandeur.”
Apart from Minister Moorthy, District Collector MS Sangeetha, Corporation Commissioner L Madhubalan, and Sholavandhan MLA R Venkatesan were also present.
No consensus on Avaniyapuram jallikattu: State tells HC
Madurai: The state government informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday that talks between several groups that participated in the peace meeting conducted in connection with the organisation of jallikattu in Avaniyapuram fell apart after the representatives of the groups failed to reach a consensus.
The meeting was held following a high court direction on Tuesday when a bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar had directed that a peace committee meeting be convened under Melur revenue divisional officer on Wednesday evening. When the case was heard again on Thursday, Additional Advocate General Veera Kathiravan informed the bench that the opinions of all representatives were heard, but they could not reach a consensus.
Thus, the event should be conducted by officials, who can follow the format adopted last year, he added. Objecting to this, the petitioner’s counsel said that although summons were sent to only 21 named representatives, supporters of a rival group, led by one AK Kannan, had also participated in the meeting. She reiterated that except for Kannan, other members were ready to join hands for the event. Hearing both sides, the bench adjourned the matter to Friday for passing orders.